Improvement in harvesters



condition. y

pension is shown as effectedby weighted levers the machine.

UNITED STATES y PATENT OFFICE.

i IMPROVEMENT IN HARVESTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent NoA 37,35l, dated January (i, 1363.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit knowir that I, DAVID B. LUCKEY, of

Bloomingburg, in the county of Sullivan and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement on Harvesters or Mowers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and marks thereon. 4

My improvement relates to certain means :for relieving the cutter-bar and the frame of the cutter-bar from the injury. and impediment to which itissubjected while traversing over stony or uneven ground, and also to means for the better presenting of the down grass to the cutters.

By the drawings which form part of this specification is shown somuch of a mowingmachine as. is necessary to give full representation ol' my improvement, Figure lbeing a top lview thereof; Fig. 2, a side view, the outer side bar of the frame having been removed 5 and Fig. 3, a front view thereof.

In each of the figures, where like parts are shown, like marks and letters are used to i11- dicate the parts.

' In order to allow the cuttenbar a or frame of the cutterbar to ride over any obstacle in its track which it may meet with on stony or uneven surfaces, I suspend it in a balanced By the drawings hereof this snsand other supplemental or adjunct means; but, as is evident, the equivalents of these means may be used, as may be deemed best to adapt my improvement to the special harvester or mower upon which the improvement may be used.

On the right-l1and side of the machine the one lever, l), is attached at its forward end to the cutter-bar, and has a fulcrum at c in an arm, (l, extending down from the side bar e of the machine. This fulcrum-point c is also theshaft of the ridingwheelf- `Lever b extends rearward, and passes through a slotted curved arm, g, from the rear ,cross-bar, 71 of A' shoulder, e3, of lever b has bearing against the front face ofV the curved arm g for resisting the l'iacklthrust of the cutter-bar, and -this lever has a weight, j, adjustable by a screw-stein or other means in the end of the lever. O11 the left-hand side of the machine the other lever, lf, is attached to the cross-headl of rods or bars m and n., that pass down through supporting-pieces o o, and are attached to the left-hand end of the cutter-bar. Lever f has its fulerum p in an upright,A g,

from the side bar o' of the machine, and, as

is shown, extends rearward, and has an adi justable weight, s, z t its end 5 or this lever and the other, b, may have the ordinary leverweight, t. A spring, a, bears at one end against the lever c,the lower end of the spring being affixed to the side bar 1'. Leverb can also have a spring, if required. Rods 'u o, from around the shaft of the driving-wheel w, pass down to the cutter-bar angl aid in resisting its backpressure. rlhese rods may be'used more specially for this purpose whenever the rods m and n may be so arranged as not to give much support to the cutter-bar. The cutter-barhas projecting curved guards fr, to facilitate its rising over the obstacles it may meet.

It will readily be seen that by the means here recited the cutter-bar may be balanced at the level desired, and that when it comes in contact with a stone or other impediment it will rise vertically, and easily and safely pass over such impediment. In rising the Aspring u will be pulled down, and when the barhas passed over the obstacle the spring will restore the cutter-bar to its balanced condition.

In order to bring the down grass to that position which will give the cutters full action thereon, I attach to mowing-machines a lift-" ing-rake, so operated that it shall move forward of the cutter-bar, and in its back movement draw the grass toward the cutter-bar and slightly elevate the grass. This liftingrake, by rods y y, is attached to a crank-shaft, z, the one end of which has a bearing in the frame-bar e or in the arm d, while the other end rests in a wheel, w', that derives its motion from wheel w on the main or driving-wheels shaft. The rods y y pass through the rear head-bar, e', of the lifting-rake, and are attached to the front head-bar, e thereof. The teeth fl/ play through the front bar, being elastic in their action by their attachment to springs fr', which are affixed to them at one end, while their rear points are secured to the rear bar, e', of the lifting-rake. The rods y move over and are supported by rod r.

Alifting-rake thus attached to and operated vated in a vertical or nearly vertical direcby the mower will enable such mower: to readtion, as described.

ily cut the down grass, and greatly lessen the 2. In combination with amower, the liftingdisadvantages under which mowers have la- .rake arranged and operated in front of the Y'.

bored in cutting the down grass. cutters, substantially as set forth.

What I claim as my invention7 and desire to This specication signed this 7th day of Nosecure by Letters Patent, isvember, 1862. j

l. Balancing the cutter-bar and finger-bar y by the Weighted levers b and 7c, andconnecting them to the other means or devices herein set lVitnesses: forth7 sothat when they come in contact with THOs. T. EVERETT, stones-or other impediments they will be elel). ROWLAND.

D. B. LUCKEY. 

